Luscious lips

Camy here, inspired by my lip balm.

Yup, you read that right. I have a little round container of grapefruit and mango butter lip balm sitting next to me on my desk. I have been using liberal amounts of it the past week because my lips have started to chap.

I hate the fact my lips are so sensitive. I can’t use Chapstick anymore because my mouth breaks out in hives from some artificial thing they put in the Chapstick formula. I could probably figure out what it is, but I’ve been too lazy to read ingredients labels.

It’s something that most lip balms contain. The grapefruit and mango butter lip balm I use now doesn’t make me break out, and it has nothing artificial, just almond and coconut oil, beeswax, olive oil, cocoa butter, mango butter, and grapefruit essential oil (well, I had to read that off the label, so I guess I’m not really that lazy).

The worst part was, I spontaneously became allergic to this artificial thing when I was on vacation at Disneyworld with my husband (then boyfriend). I put on my Chapstick that night, as usual, and then woke up the next morning with lips like those fake things you buy at Halloween. Except mine weren’t fake. Loooooovely vacation, that.

It took MONTHS for my lips to get back to normal size, I kid you not.

Anyway, my lip allergy has made me sensitive to lipstick, too. That totally sucks! I love the scented lipsticks and lip glosses but I won’t use most of them just in case I break out again, because no way am I walking around with astro-mongous lips for a few months again.

I love lipsticks and lip glosses. I admit I didn’t think much of them until I talked with my friend Julie Lessman, who is obsess—er, likes them a lot. More than I do.

Anyway, we were talking and she put on this great shade of lipstick. And she went on about how she wears lipstick all the time (which is why she looks so GREAT). And it made me realize ding! how much I like lipstick too, which is why my lip allergies hit me so hard at Disneyworld.

I haven’t worn much lipstick the past few years because of the allergy thing, but I found some brands that I’m not allergic to, so I SHOULD wear it more often, because hey—I love it. When Julie put her lipstick on, it gave her a little zing! that made her demeanor suddenly sparkle just a little more, just while we were sitting there.

For you, it might not be lipstick. Maybe it’s earrings, or the way you do your hair, or your eyes, or it might be a certain color you like to wear. WORK IT!

When you have on something that you like, it’s not vanity—it’s giving yourself a little boost. And that boost shows in more than the color on your lips, it shines in the way you hold yourself.

So do it! Give yourself a boost today.